


One Day

by kklausser



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kklausser/pseuds/kklausser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some days he wonders how it all ended up like this. Some days it's all crystal clear (more crystal clear than he'd like). </p>
<p>Gale in District 2, Post Mockingjay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feeding_geese](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feeding_geese/gifts).



Some days he wonders how it all ended up like this. Some days it's all crystal clear (more crystal clear than he'd like). 

Sometimes, when he’s alone, he likes to imagine what might have been, what could have been. If Prim’s name had never been called. If Peeta hadn't made it out of the games. If Peeta hadn't made it out of the games, again. If he had listened and they had run away. But none of that matters because what happened is reality and that’s all he’s got. 

The only way he’s found to calm all the thoughts is to keep himself as busy as is possible. The cushy job he was given in district 2 is one he knows he should be grateful for but it quickly becomes an operation of going through the motions and nothing more. Every day it’s the same walk to work, the same people milling around, the same (usually mind numbing) tasks with the same outcomes. He would never admit it to anyone else but he knows that deep down, he’s terrified that anything more than simple work (that could probably be completed by his kid sister without much thought) will bring his world crashing down yet again. He can’t afford to lose this tiny bit of stability he’s managed to establish. So every night after a long day of nothing real, he comes home to his small apartment every night and pours himself a drink to help slow his brain. He tells himself he will never be like Haymitch, he’ll never get that far, but in an odd way he feels like this life is helping him understand Haymitch in a new way. He used to think Haymitch drank because it made him feel like he could deal with the things that haunted him but he understands now that the drinking is for the exact opposite reason. It allows him to pretend the problems aren't real and brush them under the rug for the tomorrow.

But, on a fairly regular basis, he still finds himself spending time thinking about what Katniss’ life must be like now, how her life with Peeta must be so different from the life they could have had (would have had?) together. Sometimes his mom will mention her in their phone calls. She’ll tell Gale that she was at the bakery or that Katniss went hunting with Rory. Sometimes it makes him feel good, makes him feel like all of this mess was worth something. Sometimes it makes him long for her like he never has before. Often he thinks back to that conversation with Peeta and realizes maybe being with Peeta is more than what she wants, it’s what she needs.

Everyone at work teases him for his basic lifestyle, his small apartment. They tell him that a single guy in his position could afford so much more. He smiles and laughs with them, not caring that they think he’s cheap. He figures there is no reason to tell them where the majority of his checks go. 

The fact that he makes sure to spend only exactly what he needs to get by and sends the rest home to his mom and the kids is his own secret. He finally convinced his mom that a phone was a necessary accessory to their home and he calls every week to make sure she got the money. He tries to ask about it without asking, checking in first with his mother about how things are going for him (he tends to give the same answer, constantly assuring his mother that he’s fine and well feed in 2) and asking dutifully about his siblings (Rory is always having some kind of issue with this or that girl from school, Vick is excelling at everything, and Posy is growing like a weed). When his mother tries to protest (and she tries), he reminds her that he has no need for the money himself. Occasionally his mother will ask if he’s met anyone but when his answer is constantly no, she cuts back on the questions.

His mom doesn’t stop asking, however, about when he’ll be visiting. In that moment he’s as honest with her as he ever has been with anyone (himself included). He tells her he’s not ready and that he’s sorry for that (and he is). He always promise that he will book a train ticket as soon as he is ready but he’s not sure when that is. He wants to see his family, he truly does but he doesn’t think he can handle going back to district 12. Not now, maybe not ever. He mentions the idea of her bringing the kids to visit him and his mom does seem intrigued by the idea. He makes a mental note to look into it. 

Everyone at work is always trying to play matchmaker. He rarely agrees to meet the women they tell him about but when the nights get too lonely (they’re always lonely but sometimes it feels like a line is being crossed), he gives in. He takes some beautiful woman in a tight, fancy dress to dinner, buys her drinks, and smiles at her ridiculous attempts at jokes. Whatever co-worker or neighbor set him up that night will go on about how lovely she is or how smart or what a great wife she’d make but he can’t see it. Not even the promise of fewer lonely nights can convince him that these women are as great as they say. He knows, deep down, that the reason he can’t connect with any of these women is because none of them are her. He hopes that one day that won’t be the case and that he’ll stop comparing every female face he sees to Katniss’ but, at this moment, it feels like that day will never come. 

So he continues to spend his nights alone with a drink and a phone call home in hopes that one day it won’t be like this. That one day he’ll meet someone and life will be wonderful and happy, like he hopes her’s is.

**Author's Note:**

> My prompt was:  
> Gale's life in District Two, learning to start over again.
> 
> This was my first time writing Gale. I hope it stands up to your expectations and hopes! I don't have much experience but I do have a lot of head canon and this uses a lot of it so I hope it works for you. Have a lovely holiday season, feeding_geese! 
> 
> Believe it or not, I went in planning to write something upbeat but this is what I ended up with.
> 
> Also, I am the absolute worst at titles so forgive that. lol


End file.
